CLEARFIELD -- Every inch seemed to matter until Damion Terry and his Cathedral Prep teammates found the break they were looking for.

Soon after, the lights went dark on Bishop McDevitt.

Terry threw a pair of touchdown passes to shifty wideout Jake DeHart and rushed for two more as the top-ranked Ramblers posted 28 second-half points and easily claimed a 38-3 PIAA Class AAA semifinal victory at Bison Stadium in Clearfield.

It was Terry’s 6-yard scamper, which followed an Alec Werner fumble deep in the opening half, that cranked up Prep’s temperature on both sides of the football.

The Crusaders, although raging on defense for 20-plus minutes, could do nothing to stop it.

“It’s surreal right now. We just played an outstanding three quarters of ball, I thought,” Ramblers coach Mike Mischler said. Cathedral Prep (14-0) will make its fourth state-championship appearance against defending champ Archbishop Wood next week in Hershey.

McD, limited to 143 total yards, will watch the final for the first time in three seasons.

“Our kids aren’t used to being in really good football games and I think we played a little nervous,” Mischler said. “But I thought we played as good as we could on defense.”

For nearly a full half of football, both defenses traded punches in the deluge.

And although the Crusaders (14-1) played the heavy, Jeff Weachter’s offense could do little with a pair of Cathedral Prep turnovers.

Twice, McD was denied inside the Prep 25 as kicker Connor Maloney misfired a 38-yard field goal attempt and had a second attempt blocked.

Deadlocked at 3-all later in the half, Werner set himself in the pocket on a first-and-10 from McD’s 31 and was popped by Prep DE Joe Hampy with 1:15 left.

Nearly one minute after linebacker Jake Plonski bounced on the loose ball, Terry capped a four-play series from the McD 6.

“That was very big. We never got down on each other or pointed fingers when things weren’t going our way,” Plonski said.

“We’re not the kind of team to do that. We stuck to the game plan and performed.”

The second half began much like the first half ended, with fireworks from Terry and an increased pitch from the Ramblers defense.

While Hampy and fellow DE Erik Swanson continued to crash the pocket, Delton Williams sparked Prep with a 38-yard gallop on the first play of the second half. Terry matched it with a 38-yard TD run two plays later.

McD would never recover.

“Delton told me at halftime to just run straight, we got this,” said Terry, who finished with 240 total yards (165 pass) and those four scores. “It actually started as a pass play but I saw the hole and took it. We did our job but all the props to our defense tonight.”

Late in the third quarter, Terry would target DeHart to widen the gap as the Crusaders tried to muscle some kind of response.

“They changed their defense a lot and went with some run blitzes after we ran the ball early,” Weachter said. “Anything we had a little success with they almost immediately took it away. Once it was gone, it was gone for good. They are a very strong defensive football team.”

Prep’s defensive push held McD’s pair of 1,000-yard rushers, Andre Robinson and Rashad Lawson to a combined 34 stripes on 17 carries. It was that disruptive.

“Swanson and Hampy were causing havoc all day. We were rushing three at times and still getting pressure on [Werner],” Mischler said. “Those two just played an amazing game. Their motors never stopped.” EPLER ON TWITTER: @threejacker